


doctor doctor

by soft_spice



Series: somft team zit [3]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Fainting, Fever, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Sick Character, Sickfic, lying about being sick, not telling people when your sick, sick cuddles, taking a break is productive too, taking care of each other, tango runs hot, zed always gets colds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:41:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28445577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soft_spice/pseuds/soft_spice
Summary: one sick, two sick, everybody sick.wash your hands!
Relationships: Tango Tek/Zedaph (Video Blogging RPF), Team ZIT - Relationship, Zedaph/impulseSV (Video Blogging RPF), impulseSV/Tango Tek (Video Blogging RPF), polyhermits, zedaph/impulse/tango
Series: somft team zit [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2081661
Comments: 8
Kudos: 48





	1. zed's got a cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> zedaph seemed to have a talent at getting sore throats and stuffy noses. maybe it was the sort of dampness of his cave of contraptions. he would simply keep a pack of tissues and a few cough drops stashed in his inventory and take it a little easy that day. he wasn't one to try and push himself too hard while sick. but sometimes sickness hit him harder than usual...

zed woke up feeling like his head was crammed with cotton. his stuffy nose made it hard to breathe and the pressure in his sinuses hurt his ears. it was more than just some sniffles and some discomfort swallowing. his mouth was dry due to his blocked nose and as he tried to muster up enough saliva to swallow he was made aware of a pounding headache. it throbbed painfully to each beat of his heart. head feeling too heavy to be normal, zed groped around for his communicator. neither of his boyfriends would be awake, but impulse would probably wake up to the loud chirp of a message. he always kept it on ring for messages from zedaph and tango. the message zed sent was probably full of typos and misspellings, but impulse would surely know what to do. zed dragged himself out of bed, shivering, but too tired to stand taking a shower. right now he just wanted to clear his mouth from the gross scum of morning breath and the lingering taste of sickness. he fished a bucket of water out of his magical pool and gulped it down. the cool water was soothing, but each swallow bit the back of his throat to counter. figuring out which way was back to his bed proved difficult, as the pressure headache made thinking almost painful. he managed to get there somehow, and used all the pillows to prop himself up. laying down would only block his nose up even more and he was already a snot-master. 

zed wasn't quite sure how long after that impulse arrived. he could have dozed off or brain fog may have skewed his sense of time, but his boyfriend was pushing a mug of hot chamomile tea and meds into his hands and telling him to drink. a hoard of blankets and pillows were deposited on the bed and after a few sips, zed helped impulse arrange them around him to build a sort of pillow fort. impulse tucked zed snugly under a few blankets before wrapping himself in one and joining zed in the fort. zed cuddled up to his boyfriend, the blankets providing a barrier between sick and healthy. though impulse hardly caught sick. impulse hummed softly, encouraging zedaph to drink more tea before his humming turned into a tune and the tune turned into a song. it was a fun little song, with a repeating tune and the lyrics only changing slightly through each verse, easy enough to follow along. it told of a story of two people (which impulse comically named as tango and zedaph) trying to fix a bucket with a hole in the bottom. the song ran through so many silly obstacles of fixing the bucket, like "the straw is too long" to plug the hole and the knife being "too dull" to cut it. it was a silly, almost nonsense song that looped back to the main problem being that the bucket still had the hole in it needing to be fixed. who even fixed a bucket using straws? zedaph giggled through the song, impulse's rich voice smoothing over the discomfort he felt. 

a box of tissues appeared in his lap and a flash of yellowy blonde later and tango was on the other side of zed. he must have taken a nap for the morning to pass by so fast. tea was refilled and zed was enticed into eating a bowl of stew. while impulse warmed zedaph's hands with his own, tango took to his hair. scratching gently at his scalp and combing his fingers through it. zedaph relaxed into his boyfriends and let them shower him with affection. as long as he didn't snot all over them no one else would end up sick. at the end of the day, with a mountain of used tissues, zed's nose felt not as blocked as before.

//

~ impuse's bucket song ~

there's a hole in the bucket, dear tango, dear tango  
there's a hole in the bucket, dear tango, a hole

then fix it, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, dear zedaph  
then fix it, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, fix it

with what shall i fix it, dear tango, dear tango  
with what shall i fix it, dear tango, with what

with a straw, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, dear zedaph  
with a straw, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, a straw

the straw is too long, dear tango, dear tango  
the straw is too long, dear tango, too long

then cut it, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, dear zedaph  
then cut it, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, cut it

with what shall i cut it, dear tango, dear tango  
with what shall i cut it, dear tango, with what

with a knife, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, dear zedaph  
with a knife, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, a knife

the knife is too dull, dear tango, dear tango  
the knife is too dull, dear tango, too dull

then sharpen it, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, dear zedaph  
then sharpen it, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, sharpen it

with what shall i sharpen it, dear tango, dear tangdo  
with what shall i sharpen it, dear tango, with what

with the stone, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, dear zedaph  
with the stone, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, the stone

the stone is not wet, dear tango, dear tango  
the stone is not wet, dear tango, not wet

then wet it, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, dear zedaph  
then wet it, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, wet it

with what shall i wet it, dear tango, dear tango  
with what shall i wet it, dear tango, with what

with the bucket, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, dear zedaph  
with the bucket, dear zedaph, dear zedaph, the bucket

but there's a hole in the bucket, dear tango, dear tango  
there's a hole in the bucket, dear tango, a hole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the song impulse sings to zed is actually a song my dad used to sing whenever i got really sick. we call it the bucket song. it's funny and would cheer me up from wallowing in "i'm sick and i feel all gross" feelings. i have no idea where it's from, his mom sang it to him when he was a kid. its pretty long, but thats only cus the lyrics tend to repeat a lot. i wonder if ya'll get the tune from it.


	2. tango has a fever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tango was the one who got sick the most often, if a stand alone fever qualified as truly sick. his body temperature was naturally unusually high and his only symptom was the fever. poor guy would just be miserably hot for a day.

zedaph woke up feeling hot, which was odd for having slept in tango's fairly open air base. his hands felt clammy, but not from his own doing, and he could hear panting. tango was sick. zed extracted his arms from their deadlock around tango's torso and sat up. tango lay nearly drenched in sweat, panting like a dog. fever. zed sighed, fetching a cool wet washcloth from the bathroom and laying it gently over tango's forehead. tango didn't wake, but did lean into the cool touch with a little whine. zed glanced outside, still dark but the moon was getting close to the horizon. he scooted tango to the center of the bed and dug through his storage for extra pillows and blankets. coming up pretty empty, zed decided he would ask impulse to bring some of his over when he woke up. zed made due with the few pillows he had to barricade tango into the bed. zed crawled into the bed himself and snuggled back up to tango, clapping on of his hands with his own and giving him a soft peck on the temple. he wasn't worried about catching anything, tango's fevers weren't contagious. 

zed remembered the first time he and impulse had found tango splayed out on the floor of his past base, passed out with a boiling fever. they had, understandably, freaked out with worry and immidiately hauled him over to joe. six ice packs later and his fever still climbing, joe called for xisuma. x had assured them that their boyfriend, while feverish, was fine and just needed to rest and sweat it out. it was well known that tango's body temperature ran hotter than normal, so a high fever for him would be deadly to anyone else. it didn't stop either of them worrying whenever tango had his fevers. x told them that they wasn't causing any negative effects on him. but zed still didn't like seeing tango suffer so. 

zed didn't get much more sleep, as tango was even more restless than usual in attempt to find cooler spots on the bed and zed would get up every few minutes to wet the washcloth with cold water again. around mid morning he sent a message to impulse, informing him about tango's fever and asking for him to bring backup bedstuffs. a few minutes later impulse was flying into the bedroom and producing a mountain of blankets and pillows. he completed to sort of nest that surrounded tango.

tango stirred enough to mumble something mostly incoherent about being too hot and tugged at his damp shirt. impulse changed tango out of his sweat soaked shirt and pulled a fresh, clean shirt (belonging to impulse) over his head while zed ran to go cool the washcloth off again. tango did look kind of cute in impulse's t-shirt, but mostly he looked more comfortable. impulse left briefly to make a fast mushroom stew to quickly spoon down tango's throat whenever he woke up enough to eat. they all snuggled down for a day in, neither impulse or zedaph wanting to leave fever-hazed tango to his own devices. tango usually slept through his time being sick, but that wouldn't stop him from doing something stupid during the times he was awake. 

all tango knew was uncomfortable heat, soft kisses, and words he couldn't decipher but that were said in such a loving tone that he relaxed and focused on the cool thing on his head.


	3. impulse won't admit it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everyone thinks impulse almost never gets sick and must have such a strong immune system. but that's not really true. impulse gets sick the average amount of times, he just never tells anyone. he tries to tough it out and pretends he isn't. but he's not as good at covering up than he thinks he is, and his boyfriends catch him at it sometimes...

it had started out as just being more tired than usual. impulse figured he had just not had the best sleep and went about his day pushing back a yawn. if tango noticed him working a little slower, he didn't say anything. the light headedness was next, even though he knew he hadn't skipped a meal in a while. but if zed noticed the way he half stumbled going through the nether portals, he didn't mention it. the brain fog, the slow reaction time, the vertigo. impulse was fully aware he was definately sick. but he plowed on anyway. he didn't like being sick as much as the next person, but he hated laying in bed not able to do anything even more. so he didn't stop to rest.

then came the aching. the constant, dull, throbbing pain set deep into every joint on his body. it was maddening, and just that last straw to break his mask of being in perfect health. not that he didn't try to keep faking it. impulse didn't even really remember what tango was helping him with in his industrial area, something with villagers. but tango obviously had figured out what was up, and didn't seem too pleased.

"impulse, come on, you're not fooling anyone." tango said, his arms folded as impulse struggled to replace the glass he had broken from the tube leading out of villagers area.

"i'm fine, tango, just tired." the lie tasted sour in impulse's mouth, but if he went back to his base sick he wouldn't get this project finished. 

tango's hand appeared on his shoulder and pulled him away, impulse couldn't find the strength to resist it. "you're tired because you're sick and need to rest. pushing yourself is just going to make it worse or get you hurt. I don't want you to hurt yourself, impy." 

the heat that bloomed in impulse's face and chest was not due to sickness but from the affectionate pet name tango had decided to drop at the end of his sentance, as if to prove a point. still impulse shrugged tango's hand off, "i'll rest later, I want to at least get this finished."

it could have been that he turned too fast or that his flustered state made him even more lightheaded, either way impulse did not make it back to the villager tube. the horizon tilted sideways before dissolving into a bunch of black static dots and impulse faintly heard a shout muffled by the sound of blood rushing loudly through his ears. impulse blinked, trying to clear his vision and focus on the blurry red and yellow shape just inches from him. "oh, you've way overdone it now." the blob sounded, identifying it as tango.

" 'm okay." impulse mumbled, knowing that no matter what he said now, tango was not going to have it. tango made a noise halfway between a snort of indignation and a sigh of frustration.

"you most certainly are not." was tango's answer.

impulse could no longer feel the ground under him and the quick rocking sensation, though horrible for his dizziness, told him tango was carrying him. impulse did not want to dwell on the fact he was being carried by his boyfriend. instead he tried to plead his case, although it was really just digging his own grave. "I just got lightheaded. i just need to sit down for a bit and drink some water." 

tango's hand gripped his arm hard as the heat of the nether hit them. impulse winced, which loosened tango's grip, but shut him up. he was only making tango angry now. guilt hit impulse like a brick. he pretended he was fine so his partners wouldn't worry over him, but it seemed to have backfired and only made their worry worse. tango continued his brisk pace through the nether, the oppressive heat making impulse's head throb. had he whacked it when he passed out? or was it just another layer of being sick? "sorry." impulse muttered into tango's shoulder. 

zed was already waiting at the portal in impulse's base. tango must have messaged him somehow. "you okay, pulsie?" zed asked, reaching out and squeezing his hand. impulse gave him a small smile, not really wanting to give his honest answer. zed lead them to the bedroom, which was already set up to receive a sick person. water and stew on the bedside table and a bed piled high with cuddly pillows and soft blankets. tango set impulse gently down on the bed, giving him a stern look that read "stay right there". zed offered him the water, from which impulse drank heavily, and then tugged his shoes off. "just so you know, were gonna baby the hell out of you for a while now." zed confessed, his lavender eyes full of care and worry, "when tango messaged that you fainted on him it really scared me."

when impulse spoke, his voice sounded so small. "sorry." he looked down, tugging at the laces of his shoes and kicking them off, "i didn't mean for you to worry."

zed pulled impulse's hands away from his shoes and kissed the back of both of them. "we are always going to worry when you're sick, but we'll worry less if you don't force yourself to keep going." 

"I don't like wasting a day." impulse admitted, leaning to rest his forehead on zed's shoulder.

"resting when you're sick isn't wasting a day," tango said softly, pulling a blanket around all three of them and guiding them into leaning against the mound of pillows, "you're allowed to rest." 

impulse's eyes watered and he flipped over to throw his arms around tango and hug him tight, even though it make the little stars in his vision pop up again. he nodded into tango's chest, feeling zed snuggle up behind him. "i'd kiss you right now, but you'll get sick too." he admitted.

impulse felt tango's laugh rumble through his chest. "i'll settle for not on the lips." 

impulse didn't like missing a days work, but he hated worrying his partners more.


End file.
